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“Judge” Jeanine Pirro: Bernie’s an “almost Communist” and his “anarchists” are trying to silence Trump supporters

It was a total accident. I was surfing channels, checking out what everybody was saying about Trump’s Friday night rally (the one he almost had before he turned tail and ran from protesters), and I heard this gawdawful screeching and ranting from some talkie on Fox. Turned out, it was whack job right-wingnut “judge” Jeanine Pirro, who’s more used to refereeing disputes about dogs peeing on the neighbor’s lawn, but somehow got a platform all her own on the crazy channel. Anyway, in her rambling rant about the right to free speech and anarchists, one thing stood out – well, two, actually: First, every single thing she said about the rights of Trump’s supporters can be applied equally to the counter-protesters, including MoveOn.org, Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street and Bernie Sanders supporters. Everything she said in her rant involves limiting the rights of protesters and the supporters of other candidates, effectively censoring and silencing those who vehemently disagree with Trump’s message of violence, xenophobia, and bigotry. The second thing that stood out was her invocation of the 1st Amendment to protect Trump supporters at rallies. I mean, last time I checked, nobody involved in these rallies – either Trump supporters or protesters – were government folks trying to infringe on the right of free speech. That’s what the 1st Amendment is, Pirro, for the cheap seats:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Anyway, so she’s an idiot. But that’s not the point here: The point is that Pirro seems to think that if you’re a Trump supporter, you’re entitled to all these rights of freedom of speech and the right to assemble that are denied to everyone else. You can’t attend his rallies unless you agree. You should just blog about it, put a sign on your lawn, but showing up to dissent in person is verboten. (And yet, despite that supposed belief, she had nothing to say about Trump’s threat to send his people to Bernie Sanders’ rallies. That, I’m guessing, would be okay?)

I had to transcribe the whole thing, just because every time I thought I’d stop, she came up with another nutcase argument and I didn’t want to give short shrift to her absolute insanity. The emphasis below, for the record, is mine:

Since when, if you state an opinion, are you responsible for someone else’s reaction? Since when, if you verbally lean right, are you responsible for the left’s physical reaction? Since when do you have the right to interrupt my 1st Amendment right to listen to a candidate for the highest office in the land? This is America, not the Soviet Union. This is America, you cannot prevent me for speaking or listening. You cannot censor speech, free speech is guaranteed. It’s why our Founding Fathers made it their very 1st amendment to the law of the land. It’s what distinguishes us from communist countries and totalitarian regimes. It’s why people risk their lives to come here. Your free speech however is not more important than mine. Your free speech, if it differs from mine, doesn’t mean that you’re right and I’m wrong and therefore I must be silenced. But that is exactly what the left tried to do in Chicago last night and again moments ago in Kansas City to more than 25,000 who came to hear Donald Trump. Some supporters, some undecided, some simply curious. Others, abject anarchists yelling “Bernie Bernie” and responding to activist calls at #shutitdown. Now MoveOn.org organized and reportedly paid protesters to disrupt the Trump event. One protester, Sanders supporter Tony Fitzpatrick, said he went to dissent, to ask those in attendance to please reconsider. Really, Tony, let’s get this straight. Tens of thousand of people waiting in line for hours, stretching city blocks, and you take it upon yourself to have a discourse on the benefits of a leftist socialist almost Communist candidate. And pray tell us Tony who were you going to pick to have this discourse with.

Now you have the right to protest, of course you do. If you want to dissent, dissent. Consider a blog, a Tweet, hell, put a sign on your front lawn. How about you just vote for someone else. But in a civilized society you do not have the right to interrupt or censor political speech. Let us listen and make our own decisions. But then again, Tony, it’s Chicago, where kids playing in the park are so used to gunfire they don’t even react, and where as many as 57 can be shot in one weekend. I know, I lived there. And you want to blame the dust-up on Donald trump, even when protesters come for the specific purpose of creating chaos? So someone sucker punches someone else and then is rightfully arrested. That’s supposed to be Trump’s fault? A criminal law primer, folks. Words do not justify violence. You cannot defend assault by arguing verbal provocation. Otherwise every man who battered a woman would say he was justified because she mouthed off. And any time you get 25-30,000 anywhere, unless it’s to hear the Pope, there are gonna be disagreements, especially in a highly charged election year like this one. And by the way, ever been to a baseball game, a heavy metal concert? People disagree. And little Marco, in his desperate attempt to criticize Trump, says “These words have real consequences . . . when you’re president, even more so.” Words have consequences? Well maybe under Sharia law, where you can be murdered if you say something considered offensive, but not in the United States of America and not under our Constitution. And by the way, Marco, didn’t you say your parents came from Cuba to avoid an oppressive regime? Stop being so small, Marco.

Americans have been angry for a long time. Barack Obama, the great hope and change unifier, has openly pitted the haves against the have-nots, the cops against the very public they defend. We’ve never been more divided. Religion’s being forced to act against their own religious principles, Republicans characterized as wanting dirty air and dirty water, conservatives are blocked from speaking at universities, the left so dictatorial that they will stop at nothing to prevent free speech, even in the cradle of education. Black Lives Matter, Occupy Wall Street, determined to disrupt our free discourse so that they can control the narrative. Look, any course correction after seven years of hazardous charting will be difficult and up-ending. The status quo like the establishment are petrified of Donald Trump to the point that they are willing to take action the likes of which we have never seen in American politics. The desperation of these anarchists is nothing more than an effort to suppress the protected rights upon which our Republican was founded.

This is America. You cannot stop us and you cannot silence us. Beware of the sleeping giant. The silent majority of us. We will not be silenced.

Thanks, Pirro, for justifying exactly why those of us who find Trump’s anti-American message offensive are going to continue to protest his rallies: This is America. You cannot stop us and you cannot silence us . . . we will not be silenced.

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Hilarious! I felt like I was the only person awake at that hour last Friday who observed this nonsense. I came across her show and it was like the train wreck you couldn’t look away from kind of moment. I had the exact thoughts you wrote about. Sounds like this gal needs to go back to first year Con Law to learn how all speech is not equal speech. She makes women lawyers look bad with what seems to be an unintelligible command of the first amendment. Hell, you don’t have to be an attorney to know some of this stuff. Just plain old pathetic and sad.